Minimally invasive medical techniques are intended to reduce the amount of tissue that is damaged during diagnostic or surgical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and deleterious side effects. Such minimally invasive techniques may be performed through natural orifices in a patient anatomy or through one or more surgical incisions. Through these natural orifices or incisions clinicians may insert medical instruments to reach a target tissue location. To reach the target tissue location, the minimally invasive medical instruments may navigate natural or surgically created passageways in anatomical systems such as the lungs, the colon, the intestines, the kidneys, the heart, the circulatory system, or the like. Navigational assist systems help the clinician route the medical instruments and avoid damage to the anatomy. These systems can incorporate the use of shape sensors to more accurately describe the shape, position, orientation, and pose of the medical instrument in real space or with respect to pre-procedural or concurrent images. The accuracy and precision of these shape sensors may be compromised by many factors including twisting of the sensor, temperature variations, the location of the shape sensor within the instrument, and axial loading on the sensor.
Improved systems and methods are needed for increasing the accuracy and precision of navigational assist systems, including minimizing the effects of factors that compromise shape sensor accuracy. The devices, systems, and methods disclosed herein overcome one or more of the deficiencies of the prior art.